Prince William in Paris on first official call since baby Diana’s death

British royal duo begin call to French capital in European tour to strengthen ties as Brexit looms

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Paris on their first official call to the French capital the first time Prince William has been on royal responsibility in the city since his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a automobile disintegrate there virtually 20 years ago.

William and Catherine winged to the city on Friday in a private spurt from London and were driven to the Elyse Palace for a meeting with French chairperson Franois Hollande. They were saluted on the steps of the palace by Hollande, who was flanked by two representatives from the Garde rpublicaine. After constituting for photographers, he extended them into the presidents residence.

The duchess was wearing the same dark-green Catherine Walker coat she had worn at an earlier engagement in the UK, but had let her hair down.

Before they left, the president took them outside into the gardens of the palace for a second photocall, ambling them down a sun-bathed terrace in front of the waiting cameras, stopping to chitchat sometimes as he pointed out components of interest.

The trip is part of a campaign of soft finesse is targeted at forging connects on the continent as Britain starts delicate and complicated Brexit negotiations.

An aide enunciated of the fit: They[ the imperial pair] are very grateful that the president has invited them to the Elyse Palace for a join at the very start of their trip-up, which gives you an indicator of the significance and status of the visit.

The Cambridges has subsequently driven 100 gardens in a pitch-black Range Rover for a receipt at the British envoys palace, where they met young entrepreneurs, creators, jocks, musicians and other clients. William gave a speech to launch Les Voisins The Neighbours a year-long gala of Anglo-French links.

The duchess, wearing a black Alexander McQueen cocktail dress, smiled as her husband inaugurated spoke of French then switched to English, responding: And forgive me if I now continue in the language of Shakespeare, so as to reduce the risk of mangling the language of Molire.

Speaking of historic, current and future links between the two countries, William made reference to Brexit.

Like all neighbours, sometimes our two nations encourage each other through mutual support, he told guests. Sometimes “weve tried to” outdistance the other through antagonism as we will see tomorrow when Wales play France at the rugby. But always our two nations continually induce one another to become better: most creative, more prosperous, more innovative.

This partnership will continue despite Britains recent decision to leave the European Union. The extent of our friendship and the width of our cooperation will not change.

The duke spoke to a group of jocks, including Col Bertrand Gebuhrer, the leader of the French Invictus team, who emerged confused about whether it was Prince William or Prince Harry who launched the Paralympic plays for wounded servicemen and women.

After he suggested that it was Williams idea, the duke responded: As much as it pains me, I have to give my brother credit for that.

The duchess congregated Elizabeth Kesses, a British Paris-based author of books about torso issues in young girls. We talked about how important these issues are for young girls, and she remarked I should transport her my volume, did Kesses.

On Friday evening the Cambridges listened a dinner hosted by the British representative Lord Edward Llewellyn with British and French clients, including actress Kristin Scott-Thomas and French aces Jean Reno and Audrey Tautou.

At the dinner the duke read a message from the Queen. It is virtually 70 times since Prince Philip and I firstly saw France together not long after we were married and I hold the fondest reminiscences of my five country trips over the years, as well as an digesting affection for this beautiful country and its beings, it told. Although much has changed since my first trip, the ties between our nations have stood the test of time and will, I am sure, continue to prosper.

On Saturday the royal couple will call Les Invalides, the French armed infirmary, where they are able to converge two survivors of the Paris terrorist attack as well as former French servicemen, and call the Impressionists gallery at the Muse dOrsay before attending the France v Wales Six Nations rugby match.

Royals and Anglo-French diplomacy

William and Kate are not the first imperials to manager to France amid diplomatic impediments. Queen Elizabeth IIs firstly government visit there, in April 1957, coincided with the Suez crisis.

Although the two nations were work together in the opposition to Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and their aim to regain western authority of the Suez Canal, Frances failure to to advise Britain about the participation of Israel until very close to the commencement of military action in late 1956 laboured relations. The Queens official visit to President Coty sought to both deaden and reinforce the UKs relationship with France.

The Queens second district visit in May 1972 is an effort by France, rather than the United Kingdom, to improve relations considering UKs entry into, rather than retirement from, the European economic community. President Georges Pompidous new authority was keen for friendlier dialogue with Britain, accepting their membership of the EEC, which President de Gaulle had previously resisted. This would help to pave the way for Britain to do so the next year. Against a backdrop of gleaning danger in Europe in the 1930 s, the Queens father George VI cleared same attempts to bolster Anglo-French relations with an official excursion to France in 1938, which aimed to emphasise the values of the two liberal democracies in the face of security threats from Nazi Germany. Marianna Spring